The extinction of the dodo bird: listening answers and explanations
A lecture on the dodo, the large flightless bird of Mauritius. The speaker covers the arrival of Portuguese and Dutch ships, what paintings and remains tell us about the bird, what recent research on its skeleton shows, and the real reasons it died out.
One ten-gap note block in order. Gaps 31-32 are in the history, 33-38 in the description (a painting, the surviving remains, then the skeleton and skull research), and 39-40 in the reasons for extinction, which end with 'the main cause'.
Answer key and self-check
Type what you wrote and hit mark. Hide the key first if you haven't done the part yet. Every question number jumps to its explanation.
How to attack this block: The skeleton research is a long, fast paragraph that holds four answers (35-38), so keep the notes in view and move on as each one comes. The lecturer often states an old belief before the new finding: slow then fast, small brain then average. The answer is the finding.
Question 31
Answer: spiceWhen the lecturer gets to 1507
Also accepted: spices
What were the Portuguese ships carrying?
The sailors were carrying spices back to Europe, and found the island a convenient stopping place where they could stock up with food and water
Question says → You hear
ships transportingThe sailors were carrying spices back to Europe
Why: 'Carrying spices' becomes 'transporting spices'. The key accepts spice or spices.
The trap: Food and water are already in the note as what they collected on the island, not what they were transporting.
Question 32
Answer: colonyRight after the Portuguese 'didn't settle on Mauritius'
Also accepted: settlement
What did the Dutch set up on Mauritius in 1638?
However, in 1638 the Dutch arrived and set up a colony there.
Question says → You hear
The Dutch established athe Dutch arrived and set up a colony there
Why: 'Set up' becomes 'established', and the thing set up is a colony. Settlement is also accepted.
The trap: Meat comes in the next sentence, but that's already in the following note.
Question 33
Answer: fatWhen the lecturer says it's hard to know what the dodo looked like
What does the Dutch painting suggest about the dodo's body?
The best-known picture is a Dutch painting in which the bird appears to be extremely fat, but this may not be accurate
Question says → You hear
suggests the dodo was veryappears to be extremely fat
Why: 'Extremely' becomes 'very', and the adjective is fat.
The trap: Thinner comes right after, from the Indian painting. The note is about the Dutch one.
Question 34
Answer: headWhen the lecturer says no complete specimen survives
What is the only surviving piece of dodo soft tissue?
three have disappeared, so only one example of soft tissue from the dodo survives, a dodo head
Question says → You hear
The only remaining soft tissueonly one example of soft tissue from the dodo survives
Why: The single surviving example of soft tissue is a dried dodo head.
The trap: Bones and a skeleton are mentioned next, but bones aren't soft tissue. Four parts existed originally; only one is left.
Question 35
Answer: movementWhen the lecturer introduces research on the single skeleton
What could dodos do rapidly, according to recent studies?
the bird's strong knee joints would have made it capable of movement which was not slow, but actually quite fast
Question says → You hear
capable of rapidcapable of movement which was not slow, but actually quite fast
Why: 'Capable of movement' plus 'quite fast' gives 'capable of rapid movement'. The gap needs the noun.
The trap: Slow and clumsy come from early accounts, which the research contradicts. Fast is an adjective and can't follow 'rapid'.
Question 36
Answer: balanceWhen the lecturer says the wings couldn't lift it off the ground
Also accepted: balancing
What did the small wings help dodos keep?
the scientists suggest that these were probably employed for balance while going over uneven ground
Question says → You hear
use their small wings to maintainemployed for balance
Why: 'Employed' becomes 'use', and the wings were for balance. 'Maintain balance' is a natural collocation. Balancing is also accepted.
The trap: Flight is the thing the wings couldn't do, and ground is the surface, not what they maintained.
Question 37
Answer: brainWhen another group of scientists analysed the skull
Which part of the dodo was average in size?
which suggested the bird's brain was not small, but average in size
Question says → You hear
was of average sizethe bird's brain was not small, but average in size
Why: The research shows the brain was average in size, not small. That's the gap.
The trap: Skull is the thing they studied, said just before. Intelligence and the pigeon comparison come next, but the note is about size.
Question 38
Answer: smellAt the end of the skull research
Which sense helped dodos find food?
one sense which was particularly well-developed was that of smell. So the dodo may also have been particularly good at locating ripe fruit
Question says → You hear
Their sense ofone sense which was particularly well-developed was that of smell
enabled them to find foodparticularly good at locating ripe fruit and other food
Why: A well-developed sense of smell made the dodo good at locating fruit. 'Locating' becomes 'find'.
The trap: The pigeon comes just before, but as a comparison for intelligence. Fruit and food are what the dodo found, not the sense it used.
Question 39
Answer: ratsAfter the dogs and monkeys, when the ships 'also brought another type of creature'
What escaped onto the island and ate the dodos' eggs?
the ships also brought another type of creature - rats, which came to land from the ships and rapidly overran the island … they consumed their eggs
Question says → You hear
also escaped onto the islandcame to land from the ships
ate the birds' eggsthey consumed their eggs
Why: Rats came ashore from the ships and ate the eggs. They weren't brought deliberately, which fits 'escaped'. Use the plural.
The trap: Dogs and monkeys are already printed in the previous note, and they were brought on purpose. Monkeys ate the fruit, not the eggs.
Question 40
Answer: forestThe end of the lecture, 'probably the main cause'
What did the arrival of farming destroy?
This meant that the forest that had once covered all the island, and that had provided a perfect home for the dodo, was cut down so that crops such as sugar could be grown.
Question says → You hear
The arrival of farmingthe introduction of agriculture
was destroyedwas cut down
Why: Agriculture meant the forest that was the dodo's home was cut down. 'Cut down' becomes 'destroyed'.
The trap: Crops and sugar are in the same sentence, but they replaced the forest. Home fits the meaning, but the noun is forest.
You hear 'slow and clumsy' and 'quite fast', but the note needs a noun after 'rapid'. The word is movement, from 'capable of movement which was not slow'.
Dogs, monkeys and rats come first, but 'the main cause' was agriculture. What farming destroyed was the forest, not the crops or the sugar.
Words from this recording worth keeping
extinction(Introduction)
the dying out of a whole species
stock up(History)
collect a large supply of something
colony(History)
a place settled and controlled by people from another country
specimen(Description)
an example of an animal kept for scientific study
clumsy(Description: skeleton research)
moving awkwardly and carelessly
borne out(Description: skull research)
shown to be true
overran(Reasons for extinction)
spread over a place in large numbers
devastating(Reasons for extinction)
causing great damage
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The full Cambridge 16 Test 4 listening paper with the real audio: all four parts, played once, marked the moment you finish. Already done it? Take it again and listen for the traps this page showed you.
Cambridge IELTS 16, Test 4, Listening Part 4. The recording, transcript and questions belong to Cambridge University Press and are not reproduced here. We quote short extracts of the transcript only as evidence for our own commentary, and the answers are published for self-marking. Get the book for the full material, or sit the test on Langujet.
